A Merry Christmas to one and all.

     Randy Powell is a Ph.D. candidate in History and the life of every ward Christmas party. 

         I remember one particularly troubling Christmas Eve I had several years ago. As I was driving with my little brother after having worked a long shift selling jewelry to last minute shoppers, a startling story came on the radio. Muslims and Christians in the Sudan were fighting and killing one another mercilessly. As I looked out the window I pondered what it means to celebrate the birth of Jesus at a time when “peace on earth” and “good will towards man” seems nonexistent across the globe.  In the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”  I still struggle with this issue every day, but especially Christmas. I wonder why violence continues, why we worry so much about gifts, trees, and for me at least, eggnog. Does the birth of Jesus really mean all that much?
I do not wish to put a damper on anyone’s celebrations. I would much rather be a Bob Cratchit, a Linus, or a Sydney Lou Who that make everybody feel warm and fuzzy inside, but I feel it would be a grave mistake to not step back from our Christmas, our candy, our eggnog and ask ourselves important questions. How important really is the birth of Jesus to each of us in a world where his teachings are routinely ignored? Underneath all the fancy nativity scenes, greetings of merry Christmas, and Christmas carols, do we dig deeply into why we celebrate this holiday at all? These are question we should all ponder. Each will have a different answer. Here is mine.
I can’t change the world. I can’t make people stop hating each other. I can’t heal all the wounds and injustice through all of time. But I can work on those things in my relatively small circle of friends, acquaintances, and family. From how we are taught to celebrate Christmas, it is possible to give a friend, sibling, or spouse a nice gift while at the same time holding a grudge or ill feelings towards that person. Rather than making dueling with fellow shoppers over that perfect gift our priority, perhaps we should consider different ways to show our love. Call a family you have not talked with for a while. Send a friend you haven’t seen in ages a note expressing your love for them. Have that difficult, yet loving, conversation with that person who has wrong you or you have wronged. Tell that person with whom you disagree with politically or philosophically that you care for them. Cleary these small actions will not bring a millenial peace to the earth, but they can create peace and goodwill within our spheres of influence. They will not change the world, but is all we can do.

Don’t get me wrong, presents are just great. But as we celebrate Jesus’s birth, we should consider His teachings and take them to their often-uncomfortable conclusions. Instead of worrying so much about the things that “moth and rust doth corrupt” this time of year we should renew our commitment to creating “treasures in heaven,” those eternal relationships with each other that require more than just the occasional gift to maintain.  The earthly things we own simply do not matter. To celebrate the birth of Jesus is to take his teachings seriously. Along with finding ways to encourage peace, Christmas reminds us that the gifts we give are only appendages to the harder work of forging bonds with those around that will last forever.
Most of the stuff I got for Christmas growing is now long gone (and those are just the presents I remember), but what remains are my happy memories of spending Christmas Eve with my grandpa and gathering with my grandparents and cousins to enjoy pizza together. Violence will continue to erupt, people will hate each other, and evil will remain for the foreseeable future, but if we structure an environment of peace and goodwill with our family, friends, and neighbors we will have kept Christmas well indeed. A merry Christmas to one and all.